Statement of Editorial Philosophy

Aims & Scope
Mass Communication and Society’s mission is to publish articles from a wide variety of perspectives and approaches that advance mass communication theory, especially at the societal or macrosocial level. It draws heavily from many other disciplines, including sociology, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, law, and history. Methodologically, journal articles employ qualitative and quantitative methods, survey research, ethnography, laboratory experiments, historical methods, and legal analysis.

Deutschmann Scholar Essay Series
The AEJMC’s Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research is the top award in the field of mass communcation research. In 2014, MC&S inaugurated an occasional scholarly essay series by Deutschmann recipients. The essays address the state of the field and needed advances in the scholar’s theoretical area. We hope the Deutschmann Scholar Essays collection will have an enduring effect in defining communications research and generating debate that ripples through the years.

David H. Weaver (2015). Studying journalists and journalism across four decades: A sociology of occupations approach 18(1), 4-16.

Milestones
MC&S reintroduced the Scholarly Milestones Essays with an article by the eminent Elihu Katz on mass media and social media in deliberative democracy. Under the Milestones banner, Hanno Hardt, Sandra Ball-Rokeach, Steven Chaffee, and Melvin DeFleur, among others, have presented conversation-provoking essays on communication research. The essays propel us into a present in which researchers confront a staggering array of technologies and channels that multiply annually. We are actively seeking contributors to the milestones essays, so please consider this an invitation to suggest topics and contributors, including yourself, to the editor.

Katz, E. (2014). Back to the street: When media and opinion leave home. Mass Communication and Society, 17(4), 454-463.

Peer Review Policy
All articles in this journal have undergone editorial screening and double-blind peer review by at least two reviewers.

Ethical Standards
To be published in MC&S, all research that includes human subjects must follow rigorously the Belmont Report standards. The journal requires that authors include Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval in manuscripts.